Observations: Texas A&M 79, Auburn 63
The Tigers' five-game overall winning streak and 28-game home winning streak were both snapped in rather decisive fashion Wednesday.
SF Allen Flanigan (Zach Bland/Auburn Athletics)
It felt like Neville Arena was at the peak of its powers.
When Wendell Green Jr. stole a pass and delivered one to Allen Flanigan for a massive fast-break dunk, Buzz Williams had to call timeout. Auburn was on a 10-0 run — one that took less than a minute and a half of game time — and the site of the longest home winning streak in Division I men’s basketball was maxing out the volume.
The Tigers looked like they were ready to extend their several impressive streaks on this Wednesday night. A win over Texas A&M would have gotten their home winning streak to 29 games, extended their overall winning streak to six games and gone a long way in nailing down a 32nd straight week of being ranked in the AP Top 25.
But, out of the timeout, Tyrece Radford drilled a 3-pointer for the Aggies, quieting the crowd some. Wade Taylor IV would hit back-to-back triples a couple of minutes later to tie the game back up. Then Texas A&M would hit seven straight attempts from the field, pulling away at a time when Auburn’s own offense couldn’t continue its own impressive early shotmaking.
The missed shots led to frustration for Auburn, and the frustration led to a rash of turnovers. By the time the halftime buzzer sounded, the Tigers were down by 15 in their own building. It would take a miraculous comeback to keep the streaks alive.
Auburn’s defense settled down after halftime, with Texas A&M going from a team that shot 58.6% in the first half to just 34.6% in the second half. But Auburn’s offense never seemed to find that next gear, pairing any shots at momentum with more back-breaking turnovers or fruitless, tough shot attempts.
For the first time in 23 months, Auburn basketball has lost a home game. The magic comeback didn’t happen. The progress the Tigers had made on both ends of the floor over the last few weeks didn’t continue against one of their toughest opponents to date.
“Texas A&M is a really good team,” Bruce Pearl said. “I think they're one of the top four teams in our league. They outplayed us tonight. They played really well. I'm not upset about the loss, because we got beat tonight.”
Shooting 42.9% from the field and scoring 63 points hasn’t always equaled a loss, especially at home, for this Auburn team. But when a guard like has 30 points, it’s usually meant doom for the Tigers this season.
“I thought, obviously, we had a hard time staying in front of them,” Pearl said. “We had a hard time protecting our rim. They're physical, and they played great.”
Here are four Observations from Auburn’s rough home loss to Texas A&M, along with the Rotation Charts, Nerd Stats and Quote of the Night.
The defense struggled with a high-scoring guard, yet again
Radford is a certified bucket-getter, and he’s been that way his entire career. He’s averaged double-digit points in all four of his college seasons, starting with his first two years at Virginia Tech and carrying over into two more at Texas A&M.
After scoring 19 against Auburn in the SEC Tournament last March — and dropping 22 in a loss to Kentucky just a few days earlier — Radford kept it going with a 30-point outing Wednesday night. He went 5-10 on 2-point attempts, 3-7 from deep and 11-12 from the free-throw line.
With 16 points in the first half and 14 in the second half, it was clear that Auburn didn’t have an answer for Radford at any point in the contest.
“He's a great player,” Pearl said. “Great athlete. One of the best athletes in the country, really. Big, strong, physical and (had) a big game. Played great. I just didn't have anybody who could stay in front of him.”
Auburn has now lost four games this season, and all four games have featured at least one opposing guard having its way with the Tigers’ defense. Kendric Davis had 27 for Memphis. Boogie Ellis had 28 for USC. Terry Roberts had 26 for Georgia, with Kario Oquendo adding 17.
And now, Radford has 30 on Auburn — with Taylor adding 15 on an efficient 6-9 from the field and 3-5 from deep. The senior guard got to play the game the way he wanted, as the Tigers weren’t able to do anything they planned for defensively. Auburn wasn’t effective in using its bigs in affecting Radford on ball screens, and the guards weren’t able to keep him from going to his favored left hand.
“Our coaches gave us some great scout before the game, saying (Radford) was a left-handed driver and everything,” said Chris Moore, who made his return from a shoulder injury and played 12 minutes. “But I feel like we didn’t commit as a team, and that’s kind of what made him have a good night tonight.”
This is the clear-cut kryptonite for Auburn’s defense, which is statistically a top-15 unit with one of the best effective field goal marks in the entire country.
The Tigers’ opponents during the recent winning streak weren’t able to attack it with their personnel, as more of them were led by forwards. But upcoming opponent West Virginia has two guards that average double figures, and it had two other guards combine to score 37 points off the bench Wednesday in a road win over Texas Tech.
Auburn has to find ways to be more effective on defense against guards who aren’t afraid to create their own shots on a regular basis. Again, the schedule only gets tougher from here — and there are some strong scoring backcourts coming up.
SG K.D. Johnson (Zach Bland/Auburn Athletics)
Texas A&M won the battle beyond the arc
As discussed in Wednesday’s Stretch 4 newsletter, the SEC is filled with not-great 3-point shooting teams. Texas A&M had just lost to a Kentucky team that somehow found a good stroke from deep, and the Aggies combined for just six triples in their last two games.
So, naturally, Texas A&M hit that many treys in the first dozen minutes of the game against an Auburn defense that now has the nation’s No. 2 opposing 3-point field goal percentage (25.7%).